Employee Spotlight: DeeAnn Budney
How has your career grown since entering the landscape architecture field?
My knowledge has grown immensely since joining Arterra. Every month I feel like I know twice as much as I knew the month prior. I’m slowly getting closer and closer to being able to execute exactly what’s in my head.
What motivates you?
I am motivated by parallel creative fields—art, fashion, furniture, architecture, graphic design. Seeing what’s trending there, and seeing how we can make those types of ideas apply to our field. I love careful and inventive craftsmanship, and pushing limitations of a material. I love intricate patterns and repeated shapes.
What inspired you to pursue a career in landscape architecture?
My first career was in advertising. Along the way, I opened my own firm, the Hive, and we were called in to help the San Francisco Botanical Garden attract more visitors. I came up with an idea to promote seasonal blooms in the garden as Broadway shows, using vintage posters. This way, people were encouraged to keep coming back to the garden for different “shows.” The posters became quite collectible. And I learned all about the “stars" of our local garden… and fell in love. When it was time to retire from advertising, I moved into horticulture, and then into landscape design.
What has been your favorite project so far?
My favorite recent project was a design we did for a client in Marin. Hilly, difficult terrain, on the edge of a redwood grove. I loved making every inch of the space work.
What would be the title of your autobiography?
The title of my book would be 1000 Ways to Make Money as a Starving Artist. To pay for college, I had a business from age 15-25 as a manicurist. There were almost no manicurist salons at the time, and I was one of three people who did nail art in the Washington DC area. I was booked 6 months in advance at age 15! I painted everything from daisies to holiday scenes to a few Matisses and Picassos. Without that well-paid job, I’d never have made it to Smith College—I paid for a large part of my tuition that way!